In all manner of circumstance
by hiddendaisy1821
Summary: Merlin had a new mission. Introduce Arthur to the modern world, as Arthur appears to be clueless as ever. Maybe it is more than that. Maybe he is the one in the dark. Post series. Modern fun.
**AN:** Let's just say that I can't seem to let this show go. Enjoy and tell me what you thought.

As per usual I own nothing.

 **-oo-**

"I would like to say that I know the real you after all this time, but it's still something I'm not so sure of."

The day was unusually sunny, so he and his best friend have decided to spend it outdoors. That is how they ended up in the near-by coffee shop, sitting outside and enjoying the nice weather.

"Well- compared to you, I always knew you were and still are an idiot."

"Hey watch it - I will not tolerate that kind of a back talk. I _am_ the former king of Camelot."

"Yes and don't I know it." he muttered watching as people went on about their daily lives and couldn't help but be jealous of their ignorance. The simple and normal life he would never have.

"Oh, do stuff it Merlin. So what, being the most powerful warlock still weighing heavily on your poor and sad fate? Please, as if I didn't have to hear about your sobbing tale for the last five years at least twice a day- I am going to go and drown myself in that stupid lake again."

Merlin watched as Arthur placed his phone down on the table and took a significant gulp of his beverage. It was till strange for him to see Arthur in the modern world. Sure he didn't find it as strange as before, five years ago to be precise. Mostly he was used to it by now, but teaching Arthur how to use a microwave was not something he wanted to repeat, especially after Arthur attacked it with a fork.

On the bright side, it was good material for making fun of and holding it over Arthur's head so he will savor it for that. It is what any self-respecting friend would do.

"I do find it a bit rude, how everyone is rushing everywhere. Even in a midst of battle, Merlin, I don't think we were quite this spry."

"That is because you were fat, your majesty."

Arthur glared from across the table and tossed the small souvenir he bought at the corner shop. It was an emblem of sorts. Whatever, Arthur was into weird stuff now.

"Give me a sword and I will show you who is fat. I bet I could beat you with my eyes closed and only a fork."

"Yes like you showed that microwave."

"That thing is a devils contraption. Nothing should make food eatable after such a short amount of time."

Merlin couldn't help but laugh at his friends antics. He was still very much like a child, all petulant and stubborn in his ways. Arthur just waved his hand dismissingly.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it off you clown."

"Don't be such a downer Arthur - I think it is too nice of a day to spend it pouting."

His friend only glared in return and picked up his phone to tinker with it. For someone out of their time, Arthur understood the workings of the device pretty damn fast and now he was all about playing games on it, even if only a few short weeks ago he asked Merlin 'why would a phone have games inside of it, it's a ridiculous notion. Well look who's laughing now.

"Hey Arthur?"

"Hm."

Yep he was off in his land of whatever he was playing.

"You know- I found it odd that you would just appear in that lake and not reincarnate and all. You know I read a lot of books on this stuff and it is always reincarnation."

Arthur looked up from his phone thinking about it for a moment before saying, "Well I guess I am special."

"Sure, for a loony bin perhaps."

"Hey! I will have you know that I am perfectly capable of standing on my own."

"Sure, that is why you still don't work."

"Why would I work, I am the king. Kings don't work."

"If you say so. Than kings also don't pay their rents and end up on the streets eating scraps."

"That is why I have you Merlin." He explained happily and Merlin grunted in return. Some things never changed and being in servitude of Arthur seemed like a lifelong gig.

"Good thing I have magic."

Sure he worked in a local bookstore but that wasn't nearly enough to provide for Merlin and the overgrown pig sitting across from him.

There was a sudden gust of wind and the next thing he was aware of was, papers. Papers everywhere.

"Oh my God, this is just my luck."

He caught as many as he could and Arthur tried to do the same and as he turned around to put the papers on the table he saw her and quickly went on to say "Thank you so-"

The papers dropped from his hand as he heard Arthur say at the same time as she did.

"What the hell!"

He could hear Arthur scrambling to gather what he dropped and after a moment he managed to do so. While he did that Merlin was looking at the woman, who couldn't possibly be before him. This was all a trick, he was just imagining things.

"Morgana…"

The raven haired beauty looked up in surprise from her stack of papers that Arthur so kindly gathered.

"Yes? Have we met?"

Oh boy, some things were just like in the books it would seem. The one thing he didn't want to do is explain their complicated history and as fates would have it usually in his life, he will have to do just the thing.

"Merlin, do you know her?"

Arthur stood next to him, but Merlin was trying to calm himself, because he could feel some sort of a panic attack slowly creeping in. He glanced at Arthur, but the blond seemed clueless as ever about who stood before him. Just his luck.

"Ah, _no_?"

Morgana was perplexed by his behavior, which used to be a norm between them. Now he probably looked more stupid than usual. Arthur had his back thankfully.

"What do you mean Merlin? You just said her name."

God damn clot pole is what he was. _Now_ he decided to have perceptive skills. Merlin kept looking from Morgana to Arthur so many times that in turn she looked at Arthur in worry.

"Is your friend okay?"

"Oh, who Merlin? Yeah he is always like that."

He gritted his teeth, no sense in killing Arthur before this entire once-and-future-king crap is over with.

"I'm Arthur by the way and this mute next to me is Merlin."

She laughed at Arthur and of course Merlin's own misery. Sure laugh it off; you did thousand years ago so why not let history repeat itself.

"I'm Morgana, which your friend apparently seemed to know already."

Next thing he felt was a rather painful slap on his back as Arthur laughed at his jab. Same thing, just a different millennia.

"He tends to be a weird one, but how about joining us for coffee? It is a lovely day and it would be awesome not to spend it rushing somewhere dull."

"I have a presentation in an hour with the partners at a law firm I work actually."

Arthur coughed as he tried to mask his obvious blunder.

"See- dull," he said weakly in return.

She knowingly nodded at them before saying, "Are you boys always this awkward around people or just women in general?"

The one good thing Arthur's boisterous attitude did was divert from the fact that he called her by name. She turned sharply towards Merlin and met his gaze.

"Don't think for one second I will look over the fact that you already knew my name. So what are you, a stalker or something?"

Today just wasn't his day. Why did he get out of the bed again? It seemed like such a good idea this morning.

"Why don't we discuss this over a cup of tea?"

Morgana looked at Arthur like he had grown a second head before responding.

"Sure why not, it's not like my entire carrier is depending on this meeting."

As he heard the sarcasm Merlin almost sighed in relief. Good, now she will walk away and just think of them as weirdoes. He could deal with that.

The thing that confused him was that she passed next to him and went to sit down at one of the chairs that was free at their table. He scoffed, he will never understand Morgana, ever. Have that in writing somewhere, with a nice font. Maybe he should try calligraphy with his magic. Okay off topic here. He went to join Arthur and her, who was already explaining to her about a game he was currently playing on the phone like it was a freaking stock exchange spreadsheet.

They were in their own world for the time being and he sipping his tea, trying to understand how he got in this mess. That was until Morgana looked up and saw…

"Gwen?"

This time they sharply turned to Arthur, before snapping their heads toward the said woman. There she stood, Guinevere Pendragon, right in front of him.

"Morgana, hey aren't going to be late for your meeting thingy?"

Morgana only waved it off. It looked like the entire world was just going upside down today. Sure it was sunny in England but really. It's not that bad.

"Come join us. Just sitting with these two weirdo's waiting for my explanation."

Gwen came and sat down on the only empty chair left. Well look at that, aren't they one big happy family. Merlin didn't want to be bitter about all this but he really felt like the bloody cosmos was against him right at this moment.

As she sat down Morgana introduced them.

"Overly chipper fella named Arthur, the blonde and the stalker Merlin. Everyone, my best friend and awesome person in general, Gwen."

Merlin almost slapped his forehead. This really sounded like a bad sit-com if he was being honest.

"Hi guys."

Before he managed to say anything, Arthur spoke, "You are a true beauty Gwen. I would like to invite you for a cup of tea sometimes."

She laughed in return.

"You just did."

The waiter took the time to return with their beverages and Merlin was glad that at least the attention wasn't on him. That was before Morgana kicked him under the table. He looked at her and only got one word out of her.

"Answers."

Sure it would appear to anyone that he was sweating, but it was a warm day and his hands were always clammy and he never covered up during winter. So what, he was avoiding stuff, it's all good in his book.

That didn't matter because he was saved by Arthur, who was speaking with Gwen like they were old friends, which they were. They were more before, but still he felt envious on how quickly they got each other. On the other hand the object of his affection (wait _what_ ) was looking at him like he was the devil.

He did poison her, if this was the glare without the knowledge of the said incident he feared what would happen if he revealed what he did.

Minute after minute passed as he tried to gather his thoughts but when he opened his mouth to speak, he was interrupted by Arthur who was getting up along with Gwen.

"Gwen has got this art exhibit she would like to show me and I am too tired of spending all my time with you Merlin, so I'll see you later."

Before he managed to blink, they were gone. This had to be the weirdest day ever.

"What just happened?" he kept muttering.

Oh, right he was in some parallel dimension obviously.

"So Merlin, how long are you going to keep at it?"

Oh right, Morgana was still here, glaring ominously at him. Some things never change. He could feel a headache coming on, so he decided that he might as well go for broke.

"I called you by name because I know who you are."

Morgana looked as unsettled as that sentence sounded, so he rushed to explain.

"I mean not the _you_ from today, the you from before. It's not that I know if it's you now or the you from before, you could be the same person, but I am guessing not, because I put a sword through that person. It could be you from before with you from now, meshed up in some new you. So that is how I know who you are, because I knew the you from before which could possibly be you from now, uh-"

As Merlin saw that she looked at him like he was an alien and not in a good way, more in a I'm calling the police at any moment sort of way.

"I'm just going to stop talking."

She looked at him as he sweated the last of his nonexistent pride and let embarrassment settle in. Hello darkness my old friend.

In the next moment she laughed, and he felt taken aback by how much he missed that sound.

"Oh Merlin you are hopeless."

Sure he was, whatever, as long as he made her smile like that. It felt like she was back, the old Morgana, before all the usual darkness and despair that seemed to trace his lifespan. But she spoke with such familiarity that it gutted him how much he wanted her back.

"Never mind that Merlin. I need an advice so hopefully you can help."

He turned serious, because no matter how mundane, he felt that this is his chance to do some good by her and finally erase some of the pain he had caused her.

"Sure, how can I help?"

She looked doubtful as if not sure that she could trust him and he got the flashback to the time when he did it all wrong. He had mucked up and he wasn't proud of it so he didn't hesitate this time.

"I'll do whatever it takes, Morgana."

She locked her eyes with his and he felt the familiar electricity that he hadn't felt in so long. The agony he withstood every time he crossed paths with her was now back in the humming that went across his skin. He shivered as a result. It was incredible the effect she still had on him.

She looked as radiant as ever and the smile on her face made her look otherworldly. They would say he was wiped, but he didn't mind. Any feeling was better than the pain, when it came to recalling her memory.

She scooted forward and he did the same, leaning in almost like they were trying to hide from the world. She laughed at their antics, but never moved away.

"You see I've been trying this new way of like mental relaxation, because I have a stressful job and I somehow got this vision where I saw things that I never did. Somehow I know you can help me understand."

The smile was still there.

"Yes, I know what they are Morgana. They're-"

She stopped him by placing a finger on his lips and the electricity cracked up a notch. His mind went blank.

"Not yet," she softly said.

"It all came down to this Merlin."

She placed both of her hands together and when she opened them there was a small flame burning inside. Merlin was lost when he saw her eyes glow, felt the energy of her magic call to his and the familiar agony return as it was so many years ago. It was like time didn't exist and all those years didn't happen.

His terror at what she might think about him and how this will once more lead down the same path was calmed when her smile didn't waver. She was still the Morgana from before, the one he learned to love.

"I remember and I understand Merlin, so I will ask you again."

He looked lost, nothing was making sense, but the hope still burned in his bruised heart. For her, he always had a place and if he made a fool of himself that is just one of many down the line. So all he managed to do was swallow and nod timidly.

Her smile remained as she asked him, "Tell me Merlin, what is this?"

In that moment he knew that she remembered everything and he felt the rush of hope bloom into something warm, something he hadn't felt in so long. He opened his hands and pulled his own flame in the palm and he took her hands and combined their flames together.

"It's magic Morgana."

He smiled enough to make a bad dental commercial short casting but as he saw her do the same in return he couldn't bring himself to care. Sure they were idiots but at least this time they will have a chance to do it right.

In the next moment he saw Arthur and Gwen sit down. He looked at them surprised. Arthur was eating some sort of peanuts.

"What, like we didn't plan all this. You're not the only one who can work from the shadows Merlin."

He looked at his friends, bewildered at how they had managed to pull it off. Arthur couldn't turn on the TV, but he could browse internet and find their other two friends and make them meet them here and explain and connect it all. Sure he'll buy that.

He squeezed Morgana's hand that was still in his and she only looked at him knowingly. He smiled at Arthur and nodded at him.

"It's odd that I didn't notice, you looked like you lost a few pounds. I should've known something was up."

Gwen and Morgana laughed as Arthur tossed a peanut at him.

"That is no way to speak to a king."

The three of them responded at the same time.

"Yes, like we haven't heard that before."

The End


End file.
